The focus of research in the lab is on the genus Phytophthora, which includes a number of emerging plant pathogens. Phytophthora are Oomycetes, which share life history characteristics with fungi but are members of a distinct lineage of eukaryotes with diatoms and brown algae. They are responsible for some of the most economically and ecologically destructive plant diseases. Since the discovery of P. ramorum as the causal agent of sudden oak death in northern California in the late 1990s, the number of Phytophthora species has more than doubled as a result of monitoring efforts. But little is known about the origin or distribution of many Phytophthora species, or how many other potentially damaging Phytophthora remain undiscovered. We are interested in the processes behind the emergence of Phytophthora pathogens, both new diseases and new genotypes of existing pathogens.
